


To Know A Candy Cane By Its Stripes

by Aramirandme81



Series: A Johnsons Christmas Calendar 2013 [16]
Category: The Almighty Johnsons
Genre: Anders is Not Fooled, Dysfunctional Family, Thoughts of Infanticide, trickery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-17
Updated: 2013-12-17
Packaged: 2018-01-04 21:47:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1086045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aramirandme81/pseuds/Aramirandme81
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peace, quiet, calm and blessed oh so blessed silence.</p><p>These are key words to any parent.</p><p>But to Elisabeth, who’s the mother of one toddler, one child a preteen and a teenager and all of them boys...</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Know A Candy Cane By Its Stripes

Peace, quiet, calm and blessed oh so blessed silence.

These are key words to any parent.

But to Elisabeth, who’s the mother of one toddler, one child a preteen and a teenager and all of them boys... 

To her they are more sacred than the sword of her family house, the stones of Asgard and the golden cup of the original Freya combined. 

And since said offspring are all, or almost all, of the rowdy kind she is willing to use trickery, bribery and force to get what she wants.

Luckily, because they are boys, they are fairly easy to trick or bribe, most of them, and the means of doing so is almost always something edible. 

Like now, when she’s spend a few dollars and fifteen minutes on hiding Candy Canes around the property, and then gathered the boys to send them out on the hunt, telling them that no canes can be found in the house.

It should by her at least a few hours of silence as they hunt.

Especially since she told them there were thirty of the little canes and she only hid twenty eight. 

She knows it’s not really a nice thing she’s doing, but then infanticide is worse and if this keeps her from committing that crime then she recons it’s nearly the same as being nice.

Oh she knows they aren’t infants, not even Axl, but they sure act like it at times.

 

So Elisabeth takes what calm she can get and uses it to the full of her ability. She’s gotten a wash over and is just brushing het drying hair after a long hot bath when Anders comes into the kitchen via the back door whipping his feet and toeing off his shoes.

She looks at the clock on the wall and frowns. It’s only been a little over an hour.

“What are you doing in here?” She asks as she finishes brushing and starts wondering if she should start dinner or if she has time for reading.

“You said there were thirty canes.” Anders says and goes to wash his hands after the rummage he’s had through the barn and other placed, if nothing else he’s always been a clean child Elisabeth thinks and answers him.

“That’s right thirty.”

“Well I have seven, and I know Mike is going to insist we share equally no matter how many we each find and that any extras goes to Axl and Ty because they are the youngest. So, seven is what I can expect so why bother looking for more when I’m not going to get anything but more dirty for my efforts?” Anders says and shrugs.

Clever that one.

“Besides,” Anders says and levels his mother with a knowing look “This kind of cane comes in boxes of fourteen, and two times fourteen does not make thirty.”

‘Busted.’

Elisabeth can’t bring herself to scold him for figuring out her scheme, nor for being clever enough to leave the game once he’s ‘won’ his prize.

“Don’t tell the others? I’ll let you use the rest of the hot water.” She says and winks at him.

Anders stares at her stunned for a moment before he smiles and winks back.

“Deal.” He says and they shake on it.

 

When the others come back in nearly an hour later Anders and Elisabeth is peeling potatoes with half a candy cane hanging out one side of their mouths and when Mike declares that they can’t find the last two no matter how much they look, their mum only shrugs and says maybe the chickens got to them first.

Mike gives Anders a suspicious look.

“You only had seven?”

Anders looks insulted, and rightfully so, at being accused of cheating nay of stealing from his brothers.

“Yes.” He says and turns back to peeling the potatoes.

“Really?” Mike says and folds his arms, looking like he doesn’t trust Anders. “You left in a hurry though.”

“I..” Anders begins, but he’s interrupted by defence from an unusual angle. 

“Mike, there is no reason to accuse your brother of having cheated you. Anders only had seven caned when he got in here, and just because you couldn’t find them doesn’t mean someone else took them, only that you didn’t find them. And such accusations are completely uncalled for. Are we clear?” Mum says eyes strict.

“Yes mum, sorry mum.” Mike says a bit sourly but clearly contrite. 

“It’s not me you should apologize to.”

“Sorry Andy, guess I was just annoyed I couldn’t find the last two.” Mike confesses and looks at his brother.

“It’s okay Mike, those canes can be slippery little suckers, right mum?” Anders says and unseen by the others winks at their mum.

“They sure can Anders.” Elisabeth agrees with a smile then frowns at the sight of the rest of her sons. 

“You lot up into the bathroom, you look like something your father dragged in, and you clean up both the bathroom and the floor out here after yourselves!” She yells as they all make a run for the bathroom to get to the hot water.

 

Three minutes later they can hear Axl and Ty curse in frustration as they get beaten to the bathroom by Mike. 

Tree minutes after that Mike let’s out at howl of surprise and outrage as he discovers there is no hot water left.

In the kitchen Anders snickers and Elisabeth is glad she hasn’t given in to the urge to kill any of her children yet.


End file.
